Which Way is North? Part 2

Which Way is North? Part 2

Earth’s Magnetic FieldThe Earth’s magnetic field, like a bar magnet, has a north and a south magnetic pole, with magnetic lines of force resembling meridians of longitude in that the magnetic lines of force come out of one pole and follow the curve of the Earth toward the other pole. Each magnetic pole is at a location where the magnetic lines of force converge and are vertical. This point on the Earth’s surface is also known as the dip pole, as this is the one location in each hemisphere where a compass needle, if designed to swing in all directions, would point straight down with a dip angle of 90º. Interestingly, neither magnetic pole is at the same location as its corresponding geographic pole. For example, the current location of the north magnetic pole is at approximately 81.3º N, 110.8º W. The word current has to be used because…